Johanne Bougie Books The Montreal Jazz Festival

July 2, 2008. Posted by Becca Pulliam.

Before Johanne Bougie joined Equipe Spectra - the Festival producers - in 1987, she was a bartender at the Spectrum, an old movie house turned concert hall, now closed and all but torn down. Maybe that's where she got her ease with musicians and refined her taste in music. (She also listens to her teenage daughter's suggestions.) For the past eight years or so, working under the artistic direction of Montreal Jazz Festival co-founder Andre Menard, Johanne has been the booker for the indoor (ticketed) shows. Johanne is responsible for 12-14 venues over 11 nights. She books from October to April, and uses one master grid to track her progress. "It's an old method," she says, "but it works!"

After Montreal 2008, she is going straight to the North Sea Jazz Festival in Rotterdam to scout talent. She already has artists on hold for 2009. - Becca Pulliam

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